Shepherd of my soul

I have been meditating on all the events that have led up to this time in my life.  There have been ups and downs.  We have cried many tears and celebrated many victories.  One phrase has resignated in my mind.  " I am the good shepherd..."  My prayers and hopes are that this blog will bring encouragement to those who may be walking a similar path and to also uplift others who in walking their own paths and have faced disappointments, heartaches and breakthroughs.

John 10:1-5 says: "The shepherd walks right up to the gate.  The gatekeeper opens the gate to Him and the sheep recognize His voice.  He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When He gets them all out, He leads them and they follow because they are familiar with His voice.  They won't follow a stranger's voice but will scatter because they aren't used to the sound of it."

Looking back on moments when I was confused by my circumstances and asking why I had to walk through such heartbreak, I see where I "scattered".  In those moments when I felt so alone and the "voices" of doubt echoed, I felt lost.

"I am the good shephard."  Its hard for us to relate to a shephard since it isnt an occupation we are familiar with in this nation. Even the disciples didn't get it at first. Then next few versus reads: "Jesus told them this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So He tried again. 'I'll be explicit, then.  I am the Gate for the sheep.  All those others are up to no good--sheep stealers, everyone of them.  But the sheep didn't listen to them.  I am the Gate.  Anyone who goes through me will be cared for--will freely go in and out, and find pasture."

When I pass the pasture near my home and see the animals grazing, they honestly don't look like they worry if the pasture is still going to be there tomorrow.  The one thing that sticks out to me as I reflect is how we as His sheep will be cared for and go freely in and out and find pasture!  I have felt abandoned before.  I know the feeling of loneliness and not knowing what to expect next.  But Jesus also says in this passage that His sheep know His voice and He leads His sheep.  A voice of a stranger causes the sheep to scatter.  In the times I "scattered", its not because I was abandoned.  Its the "voice" I was listening to.  Jesus as the good shepherd cares and leads us to freedom and provides a place of restoration.  When I feel abandoned, lonely, scared, helpless.....Which voice am I listening to?  Jesus is the Shepherd to my soul.  My emotions, my thoughlife, my will.  As I listen to His voice, even when there wolves in sheeps clothing or thieves that try to scatter, I don't have to be afraid.  He is the good shepherd of my soul!